Does Breaking the Law for 25 Years Qualify You to Stay?

Last night in the Republican debate on CNN, Mr. Gingrich suggested that if an illegal alien (i.e. a breaker of our laws), had been here for 25 years, had raised a family, gone to church, paid his taxes, held a job, etc., then we shouldn't just eject him from the country.

Let me posit a different scenario. For the last 25 years, an American citizen, has been committing the same crime every day - say stealing $100.00 every day from his employer. During that 25 years he's raised a family, gone to church, paid his taxes, held a job, etc. When he is caught, should we let him go scot-free with an admonition that he shouldn't do this anymore? I don't think anyone would agree that is the correct response.

If someone is here illegally, they are commiting a crime every day they remain. To pay taxes, they must have perjured themselves to get a social security number, or they must have stolen someone else's number. Each is a federal crime. If they've gotten a loan to buy a house, or gotten a credit card, they've likely committed fraud when they signed their application.

If we would penalize an American citizen for a crime, why shouldn't penalize an illegal alien for committing several? We're either a nation of laws, or emotions. I prefer laws.

Proof the World Is Not Ending May 21, 2011?

I believe I've found incontrovertible proof the world will not end on May 21, 2011.

First, you have to understand that while the ancient Mayans were "advanced" for their time, their "prediction" of the end of the world might be subject to some small margin of error. First, their calendar ended some 400 - 600 years (approximately) in the future at the time of their production of the calendar. This is something grander than our current predictions of the doom of civilization predicted by the global warmist alarmists. After all, they're only looking out about 100 years, and merely predicting ecological catastrophe, rather than the total destruction of the earth (and perhaps the universe itself).

Secondly, since that ancient time we've made some minor, but significant, advancements in the understanding of orbital mechanics - not just of our solar system, but also of our galaxy. So our predictive models should be more accurate than those produced primarily with sticks and stones. After all, we have personal computers, calculators on our iPhones instead of our fingers, etc. So clearly we know a little more. Plus, we can shoot our arrows much higher into the sky...

Recently, I was at my local, going-out-of-business bookstore looking to score a printed book cheaper than I could get for my Kindle. Alas, no joy for me. However, I did find calendars. Hundreds of them, all produced by not just one oracle, but dozens of them. They all had similar calendars. But more importantly, THEY ALL ENDED ON THE SAME DAY - December 31, 2011!
That means the world ends January 1, 2012.

Now, we know a little more than the Mayans. And our current time is much closer to the modern predicted end of the world, so less subject to days or even weeks of marginal error. So I have faith that our modern predictions are more accurate than those of the Mayans 400 or so years ago.

So rather than party my ass off on May 20, 2011, I'm waiting until December 31, 2011. I understand others have similar plans this year ...